Board results worse in Uttar Pradesh - or are they?

By Asit Srivastava Lucknow, May 29 (IANS) Teachers and students in Uttar Pradesh are wondering why only 60 percent of the candidates passed the state board’s class 12 examinations this year, 29.34 percent lower than last year. The state’s education administrators say it’s because they didn’t allow cheating. The actual results have never been any better than they were this year, say Uttar Pradesh Education Board officials. They only looked better, thanks to the rampant cheating during the exams.

Board secretary Prabha Tripathi said the pass percentage had dipped with the scrapping of the self-centre examination scheme, which allowed the students to take the board exams in their own schools.

The pass percentage was 89.34 in 2007, 89 in 2006, 89.38 in 2005 and 89.5 in 2004.

But one joker remains in the pack this year.

The pass percentage from the state’s easternmost districts along the Bihar-Nepal border is between 70 and 80 percent, far higher than the state average.

This has never happened before. The easternmost districts lag behind the rest in all parameters of human development index.

The teachers in the state capital here cannot believe it.

State president of Secondary Education Teachers’ Association Om Prakash Sharma told IANS: “In nearly all the bordering districts, especially those close to Nepal, the pass percentage of students is quite high. This is because cheating was not effectively curbed there.”

Association spokesman R.P. Mishra said the government did not take adequate measures to verify the credibility of schools selected as examination centres in the border districts.

Compared to previous years, the results in these districts have improved 5-7 percent, he pointed out.

Board secretary Prabha Tripathi said: “We believe students of the border districts did well, but if the teachers’ association thinks wrong exam centres were chosen they can draw our attention to that.”

The state government had decided to undertake a project to find out why the results were poor this year, she added.

“The project will analyse the results, looking at various issues like the socio-economic status of a region, teaching methodologies and relations between students and teachers,” Tripathi said.

The potential of the students to influence the results would also be examined.

In the initial phase, the project will cover districts like Kannauj, Kanpur Dehat, Aurraiya and others where the pass percentage has been as low as 40 and below, officials said.